Sedeana Has Been Through the Storms, Keeps Sunny Outlook

It is easy to see why Sedeana is CAREGiver of the Month for Home Instead Senior Care® of Metairie. She radiates a warm, positive attitude that resonates with clients. “She’s just an all-around great CAREGiver,” CAREGiver Development Specialist Fay Kelting said.

Sedeana paints a word picture while describing her perpetually optimistic outlook: “I don’t want to live downstairs – I want to spend all of my time upstairs where the sun shines brightest.” She added, “At 51, I have a solid perspective of life, and I don’t dwell on negatives. I take everything as it comes and live the best life I can.” Sedeana’s pithy observations provide an insight to a unique life well lived and why clients and their families embrace her:

•“In addition to being a CAREGiver, I work in private security. I always have had two jobs. That way, I never get old. I just get better. Even at home, life is nonstop.”

•“I will never be rich monetarily, and knowing that, I am doing something I love.”

•“Before Hurricane Katrina in 2005, I had a job I hated. I told myself: ‘Never again will I stay with a job I hate. Life is too short. You’ve got to live your life to the fullest and treat people to the best of your ability. I smile when a client says, ‘You’re the one I want.’ ”

•“I have patience with all clients. I told one client it is OK to be ‘down.’ As a CAREGiver who always reaches out to help, I ask only that the client also try to pull himself up emotionally if it is possible. It is a joint effort. Together, we can make a better day.”

•“I don’t host pity parties. I believe in optimism, humor and fun. I had enough of the understandable pity parties when I went through Katrina. Since then, I no longer sweat the small stuff. And I celebrate every little triumph such as seeing a client up and moving on a walker for the first time in five months, watching him stretch that 6-foot frame.”

Just six weeks ago – nearly 11 years after Hurricane Katrina – Sedeana finally moved back into her home. Staying behind during the 2005 megastorm, Sedeana was plucked off a rooftop and arrived in Charleston, South Carolina, about 10 days later. She remained for three years there before returning in June 2008. “It is true what they say about New Orleans always being your home in your heart,” said Sedeana, who worked with the developmentally handicapped in South Carolina.

Before Katrina, Sedeana worked for nearly 23 years at jobs that helped many different groups of people, including seniors. She earned her CNA license in 1996, and Sedeana also graduated with a criminal justice degree from Southern University in 2011. She easily recalls when she was hired at Home Instead Senior Care in March 2014 after she saw a TV commercial.

“I was under the weather when I interviewed with Christian Rabito on a Tuesday. I was hired and went through orientation on a Thursday morning. They called me Thursday night and wondered if I wanted to take a challenging client the next day. I said, ‘I will, and I will always give 100 percent.’ I’ve done that with every job I’ve had,” Sedeana said.

“I’ve had my share of hard, stressful jobs over the years. Working for Home Instead Senior Care is what I want, where it is one-on-one assistance and helping someone who wants to remain in his home. The hard part is watching the decline in the clients’ health and the deaths. I never forget my former clients. They were never, ever a paycheck to me. They were friends.”

All Home Instead Senior Care CAREGivers are screened, trained, bonded and insured. For inquiries about employment, please call 504-455-4911 or apply online. For further information about Home Instead Senior Care, visit our website.